Ebola: Should it Affect Your African Safari Plans?
The media continues to aggressively cover the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, scaring potential safari-goers from going on safari even in East and Southern Africa, well outside of the impacted West African zone. Safari operators are reporting that sales are down 20-70% due to the Ebola crisis. Fortunately, there are signs that the epidemic may be slowing in the worst zone in Liberia.
At AdventureWomen, we understand that some don’t realize how VERY BIG Africa really is (the United States can fit into the African continent 4 times!). Unfortunately, they view Africa as a single country when it comes to risk assessment. In reality, Europe and South America are closer to the outbreak in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone than the AdventureWomen travel destinations including Namibia, Southern Africa; Johannesberg, South Africa; and the East African countries of Kenya and Tanzania. AdventureWomen is hosting two amazing safaris in Africa for 2015: Namibia in Southern Africa, and Kenya in East Africa. We are happy to say that both of these trips are over half-filled now, and we anticipate that they will both be filled in the near term.
The following are some facts about Ebola that we think are important to think about when making your decision about whether or not to join us in Africa in 2015:
1. Currently, not a single case of Ebola has been reported in East or Southern Africa.
2. In both Kenya and Namibia, entry has been suspended for all of those traveling through or from countries affected by the Ebola virus.
3. Ebola is not contagious via airborne particles like the flu. To the contrary, it is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids from a symptomatic individual.
4. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) is not recommending that travelers avoid visiting other African countries.
At AdventureWomen, your safety, comfort and health is at the core of every trip we run. We plan to continue to keep you informed about the situation in Africa just as we would any international situation which might impact the health and welfare of our guests.
